PICINA. 273 
THE GREEN WOODPECKER. 
Gécinus viripis (Linnzus). 
This largest and best known of our British Woodpeckers occurs 
in most of the wooded districts of England as far north as 
Lancashire and Yorkshire; beyond which it becomes rare, being 
only occasionally found breeding in Durham, Northumberland, 
Westmoreland or Cumberland. Across the Solway it is said to 
have been killed in Kirkcudbrightshire, but other records from 
Scotland require confirmation ; a bird is said to have been seen at 
Kirkwall, Orkney, in July 1885. In JIreland—where all the Wood- 
peckers are uncommon—this species has only twice been obtained 
up to 1898. Even in England it is often unaccountably local, and 
has decreased of late years without any assignable reason in some 
districts, while, on the other hand, it has become common in the 
extreme west of Cornwall, without reference to trees or woodlands 
(Rodd). In Wales it is abundant in Pembrokeshire, and fairly 
numerous further north. 
In Norway the Green Woodpecker breeds up to about 63° N. lat.; 
Y 
